BP (NYSE:BP) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

BP (NYSE:BP) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on BP from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. HSBC cut shares of BP from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $38.50 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday. Melius Research downgraded shares of BP from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore set a $38.00 price objective on shares of BP and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on BP from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BP presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.35.

BP Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of BP stock opened at $37.69 on Friday. BP has a twelve month low of $25.22 and a twelve month high of $39.51. The stock has a market cap of $98.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3,764.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.12.

BP (NYSE:BP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. BP had a return on equity of 9.68% and a net margin of 0.03%.The company had revenue of $47.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that BP will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BP

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bollard Group LLC grew its position in shares of BP by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 337,724 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $10,108,000 after buying an additional 37,974 shares during the last quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its stake in BP by 1.6% in the second quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 485,409 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $14,528,000 after acquiring an additional 7,645 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC raised its position in shares of BP by 2,705.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vestor Capital LLC now owns 57,983 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $1,735,000 after purchasing an additional 55,916 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BP by 206.0% in the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 252,849 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $7,568,000 after purchasing an additional 170,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in BP during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.01% of the company’s stock.

About BP

BP plc is a British multinational integrated energy company headquartered in London. Originating in the early 20th century as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, BP has grown into one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, operating across exploration and production, refining and marketing, trading, and a range of low-carbon businesses.

The company’s core activities include upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream and trading operations, and downstream refining, marketing and supply of fuels, lubricants and petrochemicals.